Voter turnout hits record lows in the suburbs

Between the ballot counting, the election judges, website prep and more, the biannual municipal election is just as much work for county clerks as a presidential election, DuPage Election Commission Assistant Executive Director Doreen Nelson says.

But it's a bit more thankless, with far fewer voters standing up to be counted.

DuPage County saw just 16.4 percent turnout — its lowest in municipal election history — according to unofficial results from Tuesday. That's a 4 percentage point drop in turnout from municipal elections in 2007 and 2009.

“I would say turnout is spiraling down,” Nelson said. “It's even more frustrating because people can't seem to comprehend these individuals create our real estate tax bills, and you don't care. But yet you'll complain about it.”

Across the suburbs, Cook, Kane, McHenry and Lake County clerks reported similarly abysmal turnouts.

Suburban Cook County saw 232,078 — 16 percent — of its 1.4 million registered voters cast ballots. In 2009, 20.8 percent voted. The previous low was 17.2 percent in 2007.

Voter turnout in Kane County for Tuesday's election was a paltry 12.4 percent, which is the lowest mark in at least 24 years for a nonpartisan, consolidated election, County Clerk Jack Cunningham said.

Cunningham said 26,593 ballots were cast Tuesday and in early voting.

According to the clerk's website, the highest for a consolidated, local election was 34.41 percent in April 1989.

While turnout wasn't expected to be high since it is a nonpresidential year, Cunningham, like Nelson, said there were still plenty of items on the ballot that affect people, such as local school boards and a bid by the Kane County Forest Preserve District to spend $30 million on open space.

“People just didn't get excited for local races, and they probably should,” Cunningham said. “The outcome of the race will affect taxes for a long time.”

Lake County saw just 60,787 — just shy of 15 percent — of its 405,690 registered voters cast ballots Tuesday, a 5-point drop from the 2009 municipal election.

Katherine Schultz, McHenry County Clerk, said Tuesday night that voter turnout in the county was on track with previous years. Two years ago, she said, turnout was just above 15 percent.

Schultz was out of the office Wednesday, and a spokeswoman in her office, who declined to give her name, said she was unable to provide total turnout details.

A Daily Herald analysis of the 528 local races in the April 5 election in Northwest suburban Cook and Lake, DuPage, Kane and McHenry counties found only 238 were contested. Illinois has more units of local government than any other state in the nation — in particular, more special-purpose local governments, according to the state comptroller's office. About 50 percent of school and municipal board positions were contested.

But four of five regional office of education seats were uncontested, as were 47 of 70 library boards, 16 of 24 fire protection districts, and 49 of 74 park districts.

With so many local governments, it can be a near impossible task for voters to learn about candidates from each and every level of office.

“To be informed about all of these races is essentially the equivalent of a full-time job,” said Matt Streb, a Northern Illinois University political science professor.

“It's something that I think people who are politically active who believe strongly in democracy are going to struggle with. You want a democracy that's not simplistic, (but) a lot of people would argue this is putting the burden on the voter.”

Races that dominated the headlines recently fared considerably better than others Tuesday.

More than 40 percent of voters in Oak Brook turned out to vote current Mayor John Craig — dogged by negative news reports that he and his wife were collecting four separate public pensions — out of office.

In Medinah, 27.3 percent of registered voters turned out to overwhelmingly vote down a bond issue.

In Palatine Township Elementary District 15, 17.3 percent of 65,709 registered voters cast ballots, ousting three incumbents to elect a slate of challengers that campaigned on a platform of fiscal responsibility for the financially troubled district.

But in South Elgin, just 3.7 percent of voters cast votes in the uncontested village board election, according to the Kane County Board of Elections. Voter turnout in Aurora City Council races ranged from 6 percent to 7 percent, according to the DuPage Board of Elections.

Several races were so close, a few extra votes could have shifted the outcome. In Island Lake, village trustee candidates Allen Murvine and Charles Cermak tied for one of three slots, with 575 votes apiece.

In the St. Charles City Council race, two candidates — Rita Anne Payleitner and Maureen Lewis — earned squeaker victories in the second and fourth wards, respectively, with a margin of fewer than a dozen votes apiece.

“You have an easier say in electing who they are than you do with the president. It's frustrating. What's it going to take?” Nelson said.